Ziegfeld Girls: The Sexiest Broadway Actresses of the 1920s (59 photos)

Black-and-white photographs from the early 20th century leave a mixed impression on modern connoisseurs of female beauty: the girls' makeup appears overly dramatic, their faces too pale, and their poses too theatrical. The Ziegfeld girls are a different story: these beauties of the 1920s could have given today's supermodels a run for their money, but at the beginning of the last century, they served as a true standard of sexual attractiveness.





The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City that ran from 1907 to 1931. From 1932 to 1936, a radio program called "Ziegfeld Follies on the Air" also aired.



Florenz Ziegfeld was a legendary American entrepreneur, Broadway impresario, and talented director of the Ziegfeld Follies series of theatrical shows (1907–1931).

The son of a German immigrant and a nightclub owner, Flo traveled to Europe at the dawn of the 20th century to scout new talented women and met his first beauty, a café singer named Anna. He was captivated by her, and they soon married. He wanted to return to the United States and make her a star, but Anna was not only beautiful but also a very intelligent woman. She introduced her husband to a famous French variety show and suggested he create a similar one in America.





The result was the Ziegfeld Follies, a very colorful revue, a cross between late Broadway shows and more sophisticated vaudeville and high-class variety shows. Many famous artists of the era appeared in these productions.



Many of the performers who participated in the show were nicknamed "Ziegfeld girls." They all appeared before the public in luxurious, puffy costumes designed by famous couturiers of the time.



Ziegfeld himself held auditions, selecting the sexiest and most graceful beauties for his corps de ballet.

"Before I see their faces, I want to see them walk," he once said, watching the girls parade in high heels. "There's more sex in a woman's walk than in her face and figure."



For the first time in 1907, Ziegfeld's wife, Anna, brought 50 beauties onto the stage, and the show became legendary that very day. The Ziegfeld Girls set a new standard of beauty.

The New York Times wrote:

"It was a sensation... Ziegfeld turns the female body into a swing, a pendulum that drives mad and hypnotizes."



Ziegfeld was also a master of publicity stunts. Many of his actresses became stars of film and stage. He once told the press that Lady Anna took a daily milk bath, and he would return the milk if it went bad. The milkman sued him for libel, but the public had already taken the bait. Anna Held became a star of the first magnitude, her photos appearing in newspapers every day.



The showman was a meticulous perfectionist in business and a true professional, but he was also known as a notorious spendthrift and womanizer. Lee Davis, in his book "Scandals and Folly," wrote that Ziegfeld felt "a need throughout his adult life to sleep with the best beauties who worked for him."



Anna eventually divorced him after Flo fell madly in love with Lillian Lorraine. In response to the divorce, Flo bought a two-story apartment directly above his former muse's and lived there with his new mistress. He spent all his free time with Lillian for several years, but the wedding never took place. Instead, in 1914, he married another beauty, actress Billie Burke.



All of the "Ziegfeld girls" were immortalized in portraits by New York photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston. Most of the photos were unpublished until recently.



During the Great Depression, Ziegfeld lost his audience and went bankrupt. The show's name was repeatedly used by other impresarios after his death, but none of them managed to restore its former glory.